This invention relates to the measurement of saturation characteristics of porous materials with respect to fluids and more particularly to the measurement of the oil/water saturation characteristics of porous materials such as core samples from hydrocarbon bearing subterranean formations.
In many instances it is desirable to know the saturation characteristics of an earth material forming the matrix of a subterranean hydrocarbon reservoir in order to estimate the potential total production or the rate of production of hydrocarbons from the reservoir. Saturation may be defined as the tendency of the porous material to retain one fluid phase with which it is impregnated upon passage therethrough of one or more other fluid phases.
To attach significance to the measurement of such characteristics of porous materials, it is necessary to known the quantity of each fluid phase in the material, or the extent of saturation of the porous material with respect to each fluid phase, when equilibrium, under the procedures for measurement, have been established or to known the variation in the extent of saturation before or after establishment of equilibrium.